North Miami-Dade News

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-FL) introduced the House companion to the Corruption in Argentina Stymied by Enforcing Sanctions, or ‘CASES Act’. Originally introduced by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), the bill would require the President to investigate five Argentine officials for corruption, including Argentina’s Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. If the President finds that these officials meet the criteria for corruption sanctions, the bill mandates the imposition of those sanctions.

The Senate companion of the bill can be found here. Reps. Carlos Giménez (R-FL), Mike Lawler (R-NY), and Jenniffer González-Colón (R-PR) are also supporting this effort in the House.

“Cristina Fernández and her inner circle are some of Latin America’s most prolific embezzlers of public funds. It is time the United States take action against their unchecked abuse of power, which has resulted in theft and loss of billions of dollars belonging to the Argentinian people,” said Rep. Salazar.

“Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is a deeply corrupt politician who has undermined Argentina’s rule of law and its political institutions,” said Senator Cruz. “The evidence against her is public, credible, and backed up by Argentina’s courts. Beyond Argentina, she and her associates have undermined American security interests in the region by placing Argentina’s institutions at the service of Iran’s global terrorism campaign. They continue to do so. The United States Congress has passed into law authorities for the President to sanction individuals like Fernández de Kirchner and her associates. My CASES Act mandates that President Biden uses them for what they were meant for – protecting American interests abroad from corrupt politicians seeking to undermine them.”

BACKGROUND:

If enacted, the United States government would investigate the following Argentine officials:

• Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner;
• Congressman Máximo Kirchner;
• Vice Minister of Justice Juan Martín Mena;
• Senator Oscar Isidro Jose Parrilli; and
• Lead Prosecutor of the Argentine Treasury Carlos Alberto Zannini.

In December of 2022, Fernández de Kirchner was convicted by an Argentine federal court of having overseen, with the help of her son, daughter, and associates, an elaborate bribery and kickback scheme that defrauded the people of Argentina of billions of pesos.

Original source can be found here.